Changing suburban schools?

Posted by Mike Riopell on Wed, 01/23/2013 - 19:42

The state board charged with telling lawmakers how much money is needed to pay for Illinois schools adequately said today that the state needs to come up with $4.7 billion more for education.

Anyone who reads this blog closely knows that isn't going to happen.

But a different part of the report jumped out at us. From the news release:

The report details the increase in low-income students, nearly half of all Illinois students are now classified as low-income, noting the growth has taken place in all geographic regions of the state but most dramatically in the collar counties where districts saw a nearly 44 percent increase in their low-income population since Fiscal Year 2011.

The general state school money doled out by lawmakers every year often doesn't reach the suburbs as it's designed to benefit districts that don't have the same relative property wealth as seen in much of the collar counties.

But times continue to change, and this report could be further evidence.

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